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“All right,” I said loudly. “This is it, people. There are going to be some changes.
Sarin, you’re on ops now. You know how to run the tactical display on the holotank,
right? Good. Miklos, I have bigger concerns for you. I’m going to personally oversee
the marine contingents and the overall battle. But I want you in charge of fleet tactics.
You will decide how to line up the ships, and will take over command if I’m out of
the fight for any reason.”

Kwon’s hand was already up.

“Yes, Kwon?”

“Permission to accompany you with the marines, sir.”

“Granted. I wouldn’t have you anywhere else. Who else…Sandra?”

“Is Welter still in command of the battle station?”

“Yes, of course.”

“But if you’re right, sir, nothing will happen there.”

I stared at her, and they all stared back. I knew what she was getting at. They wanted
to hear it from me, right now. Was this a two-front fight or not?

“We will proceed under our original assumptions for now. The Macro Fleet has arrived,
that’s true. But they’re barely moving.”

“I would calculate, Colonel,” interrupted Miklos, “that they’re waiting for heavier
ships as they did last time. They aren’t just on a parade exercise. They’ll come here.”

My jaw tightened. “We don’t know that. You may well be right, but we just don’t know
that for sure.”

“Excuse me, Colonel,” Miklos said. “Can we now begin the process of jamming signals?
The enemy doesn’t seem to be in complete coordination. I would like to keep it that
way.”

I thought about the request seriously, but shook my head. “No. We’ll hold as we are.
They’ve had days to coordinate, to hatch a plan of action. They’re probably on a schedule
that jamming won’t change.”

“You don’t actually know that, sir.”

I tossed Miklos a flat stare. I’d always allowed my senior staff an objection or two
per meeting, but he was over his limit.

“Jamming them now would have some benefit, I’m sure,” I said. “If I were planning
a preemptive attack, for instance, I would begin with jamming. But Marvin is really
close to cracking the code now, he’s assured me. If we can listen in and find out
who all the players are, if we can know their exact strengths and positions—well,
that’s worth much more than a few days of jamming.”

I could tell with a single glance that no one in the group agreed with me, with the
possible exception of Kwon, because he didn’t care. He only wanted the fight to start
as soon as possible.

“Let’s go to the transports now, sir,” he said eagerly.

Jasmine leaned forward. Her eyes were intense. “Sir—I don’t quite know how to tell
you this. But we all think that jamming would be the best course now. It is definite
action with a definite gain. Marvin
might
break the code, but he hasn’t done so up until now. Why should that suddenly change?”

I felt a surge of irritation. “Take a deep breath, everyone. I know things look bad.
But we’ve just gotten a huge boost in our combat strength due to Marvin. He’s done
with that project now and he’s moved on to the next challenge: the code. Frankly,
I consider that to be a far less difficult feat. Let him have his shot at it.”

“Can we at least split our forces now?” Miklos asked. “I mean, with the additional
troops—surely we can spare some of them for the defense of the battle station.”

I felt myself becoming stubborn. With an act of will, I stopped myself from ordering
him to stop questioning everything I did. I forced myself to consider his question
carefully and coolly.

“All right,” I said. “Kwon, order a complement of five hundred Centaur troops to fly
to the battle station, and add in a hundred of our own human marines. That will bolster
Welter’s defenses considerably.”

Miklos frowned, but fell quiet. I knew he’d been asking for a contingent of ships,
but I wasn’t willing to give those up. We didn’t have a battle station at the ring
to Helios. If the Imperials hit us there, all we had to defend Eden was our fleet
and our space marines.

I watched the tabletop as four transports broke off and dashed lines projected their
course toward the battle station. It would take them around ten hours to reach their
destination. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be needed when they got there.

Suddenly, as we all watched the board and broke up into muttered conversations, the
screen shifted on its own. A klaxon went off somewhere in the ship.

We stood up as the door opened. A staffer with a white face walked in and pointed
a thin finger at the conference table.

“I relayed the new report here, sirs,” she said.

I frowned at her, but followed her finger to the tabletop. The image swam briefly,
then objects flashed into being. I quickly recognized the Helios system. I was about
to demand from the staffer what this was all about, but the words died in my throat.

Ships were appearing in the Helios system, at the mouth of the far ring, the one that
led to Alpha Centauri. The only system in line after Alpha Centauri was Earth. I didn’t
have optics on these unknown ships yet, but I had no doubt that they were Crow’s Imperial
vessels.

As we all watched, they kept coming through. More and more of them. I recalled then
one of the last words Decker had said when threatening me about Crow’s new fleet…

The word he’d used was:
overkill
.

-26-

Over the next few hours, the Earth fleet kept silently gathering strength. It was
like watching silver coins spill onto a black floor. They poured out, slowly filling
the space surrounding the ring. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many ships in a single
place. All of them positioned themselves in an elaborate formation and stood as if
on parade, glinting in the light of three distant suns. They didn’t advance, and I
was reminded distinctly of the behavior of the Macros. Both were gathering at a safe
distance, positioning themselves carefully, and waiting for the signal to advance.
We’d been set up, and everyone on the command deck of the
Nostradamus
knew it.

All the Fleet people became increasingly tense as enemy hosts gathered on both sides
of us. I reflected that in olden times, soldiers on a castle wall must have felt like
this as they watched a horde of enemy troops gathering before they assaulted the cold
stone walls. The only people who didn’t have their stomach tied up in knots were the
suicidally brave Centaur troops, who seemed oblivious to the stresses we naturally
felt before battle. I watched these fresh native troops on vid feeds from the transports.
I’d placed a line of cylindrical transport ships behind our line of gunboats, destroyers
and my single cruiser. The Centaurs inside the transports were enjoying themselves,
experimenting with their new equipment and demonstrating the value of their newly
stress-free minds. I almost envied them as I watched them butt heads and fly around
in buzzing figure eights all over the interior of the holds. At no time did they show
the slightest hint of claustrophobia. In fact, the only emotions I observed were exuberance
and impatience. They were more than ready for us to get on with the show. They couldn’t
wait for me to release them into space like twenty thousand angry bees.

The Earth fleet kept growing, while the Macros advanced very slowly. I ordered
Nostradamus
to move to the far side of the ring to have a closer look. I knew I would have to
contact them and attempt a little diplomacy. I doubted I could talk them out of attacking,
but I at least had to try.

“Open a channel to the commander of the Imperial Earth fleet,” I said.

Sarin was running the boards, and she was faster than anyone else. The request flashed
out into the cold void of space. As we waited, the enemy armada shuffled closer. They
weren’t attacking yet, but they were advancing.

At last, a signal came in. When it did, I received an unexpected shock.

“Hello Riggs, this is a voice from your past, boy. Hehe, I bet you didn’t expect me,
good old General Kerr of the United States, to be riding herd on this flying armada,
did ya?”

A thousand rude retorts bubbled in my mind. After I regained control of myself, I
made my reply. “No, I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting you General. I thought you
had better judgment than this, sir.”

“Now, now! That could be construed as an insult to our good Emperor Crow. Lord knows,
we can’t have that on the transcripts. But let me tell you something, as you’ve been
out of the loop for a good long while. This massive display of fleet strength wouldn’t
have been possible without the influence of good old Jack Crow. Whatever you think
of him personally, he brought Earth together as you never did, Kyle. He united us
under a banner, rather than ignoring us and just using us as a source of raw materials.”

I frowned. Kerr’s words did sting, and I knew from experience that meant there was
a grain of truth in what he said. Still, I rejected his underlying premise.

“So then, General...let me get this straight. You think I should have conquered Earth
when I had the chance? The moment Star Force was strong, and the militaries of Earth
were collectively weak? By allowing the nations of Earth sovereignty and respect,
I failed to do the right thing?”

“Reality isn’t always as pretty as we would like it to be. I think your character
is a strong, positive thing. But doing what’s necessary to save the species is infinitely
more important. Haven’t you made that argument many times, usually while presiding
over the deaths of millions?”

My frown had changed into a glare, and I opened my mouth to unleash a tirade. Through
sheer force of will, I stopped myself. I decided this bickering was getting us nowhere.
Kerr had signed on as part of Crow’s legion. He’d sold out to totalitarianism, and
there was no way I was going to talk him into resigning his commission now.

“Let’s change the tone, General. Can you tell me what your part is in all this? I
thought you were more of a ground-force commander—or more recently, a spook-herder.”

Kerr cackled at that one. “Right you are. But I made the case to his majesty that
space battles aren’t really that similar to naval battles—any more than they resemble
land battles. They are a new and unique form of combat, more like an air campaign
than anything else. More importantly, I’ve gone up against the legendary Kyle Riggs
before. All that aside, I’d say as the Director of the North American Sector, I was
first in line when the honor of leading this force was handed down by our leader.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Director of the North American Sector? That
does
sound like an impressive title, sir. Can I ask how you managed to achieve such greatness?”

“It’s an old story, Riggs. Early converts to any new political wave tend to rise up
to the top. By being in the right place at the right time, and picking my winners
early—well, let’s just say I’ve been blessed by the course of current events.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “Let me guess: You signed on with Crow and gave him inside
information. Maybe you had a hand in bringing down your government as well? Sounds
to me like you’re a hero, General.”

“Now, there’s no call for that kind of talk. If you doubt that I made the correct
decisions both for myself and for Earth, do a recount on my fleet strength. I know
you probably have a little red number up on your screen by now displaying how many
ships have wriggled into the Helios system. Notice that they are
still
coming through. I bet your Worm buddies down there on their hot little rock are pissing
themselves by now!”

While I listened to the General’s cackle, I glanced at the counter as he suggested.
Sarin had set it up without being asked. It stood at one thousand ninety-eight. I
couldn’t believe the number, but it checked out. Fortunately, most of the ships that
were coming through now were much smaller craft. I figured they were no more than
independent one-man fighters following the larger cruiser-sized vessels. Still, over
a thousand of anything in space was extremely impressive to me. I stared at the armada
for several long seconds before responding to Kerr again.

“I’ll offer you deal, General,” I said. “Fly through our territory peacefully, and
help us destroy the Macro threat on the far side of Eden. I’ve got them bottled up,
and I could use your aid in finishing them off.”

This time, the General didn’t answer right away. He was thinking, I could tell. Maybe
he even had a meeting and talked it over with his command staff. I figured the offer
had to be tempting. Allowing them into our system and trusting them to stand by our
side would be risky, of course. They might well decide to turn on us when the battle
was over. But I knew Kerr, and I knew human psychology. It would be hard after fighting
at our sides to turn against us. Every man in his fleet would naturally want to stand
with us. With luck, I could avert a civil war.

“Riggs, your offer is very tempting. And I do believe you mean it. But we have our
orders. The trouble is that Eden is technically rebel territory. Earth claims the
system, and must reassert control over it. Naturally, I know this state of affairs
makes it hard for us to cooperate. What I can do is bend my orders in your favor.
If you will fly forward, surrendering yourself and the cruiser you’re aboard right
now, I’ll move into the Eden system peacefully. Let us scout the Macro enemy, and
if they’re poised to strike, our combined forces will wipe them out. There is no need
for either of us to shed the blood of a single biotic in a pointless command struggle.”